Community Development Commission
– Julie Woods, CDC Representative
Longtime neighbors in Dawson will remember that our neighborhood association is responsible for electing the South Austin representative on the Community Development Commission. As I serve on the CDC, I thought I’d share a brief outline of what we do and what we’ve been up to lately. The purpose of the CDC is as follows: Advise the councilin the development and implementation of programs designed to serve the poor and the community at large with emphasis on federally funded programs.
The federal government sets specific requirements about how this commission functions, since one of our main duties is overseeing how federal Community Development Block Grant and CommunityServices Block Grant dollars are spent. The CDBG funds are used for housing developments; for example, you may have noticed that some of the substandard housing projects on the east side are being torn down and replaced by more comfortable and energy-efficient homes. The CSBG funds are for services that help our low income neighbors: for example, the neighborhood centers around town (including the South Austin Neighborhood Center, next to Gillis Park) have continued throughout the pandemic to distribute food packages via drive-up food banks. If you got your COVID vaccines through CommunityCares, (aka Shots For Tots), that money came from the federal government via a Community Service Block Grant overseen by the Community Development Commission.
The CDC also weighs in on issues regarding affordable housing in the city. While we merely act in an advisory capacity in matters of how the city handles non-federally-funded housing developments, the commission’s recommendations do carry some weight with the city council. The news item linked below describes how we took action regarding the proposed development at the Statesman site on Congress Avenue. The second linked article is an update and may be of interest.
- https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2022/07/community-development-commission-pushes-for-affordability-at-statesman-project-site/
- https://theaustinbulldog.org/waterfront-tirz-update/
The city council won’t be voting on that project until early September, but even though the site isn’t in our neighborhood, it’s of interest to everyone in Austin.
Thank you for electing me to serve on this important commission.We’ll be meeting tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm and you can see the agenda and link to the livestream here.
Next Meeting
Monday, October 10, 6:30
Cosmic Coffee & Beer Garden
Agenda: Neighborhood Association
- Approval of Previous meeting minutes
- New business
Agenda: Plan Contact Team
- New and ongoing building projects in the neighborhood
- Review permit notices
- Development project status
We meet on the 2nd Monday of February, April, June, August, October, and December.
Newsletter Editor:
Eliot Kimber, drmacro@gmail.com
DNA email distribution:
GroupIO page (sign up!)
Short Term Rental Resources
Short term rental types
Short term rental code and search for “short term rental”. The STR code is Chapter 25-2, Subchapter C, Article 4, Subpart C.
Airbnb and VRBO community support sites:
TCAD to look up property ownership details – search by address.
City Council To Vote on Ordinance to Protect Green Spaces
Later this week, the city of Austin may take action to ensure that more green spaces are dedicated to public use. Please share your thoughts with our elected representatives on this issue: item 3 on the agenda for the Council meeting on Thursday, August 11, 2022.
The commercial parkland dedication ordinance is intended to require that those multifamily projects set aside green spaces with parks, trails and other recreational opportunities for everyone to share.
Here’s a link to staff backup materials and staff presentation on the commercial parkland dedication ordinance
Thanks to our sponsor!
Dawson Elementary serves children ages 3 to 12 years.
Please contact Dawson’s principal, Tania Jedele, at 512-698-9151, to set
up a time for a tour.
Minutes of Dawson Neighborhood Association June 13, 2022
Hybrid in person at Plaza Columbian Coffee and virtual meeting via Zoom-
- Julie Woods, President, called the meeting to order.
- Plaza Columbian Coffee owner spoke to us about his COA music permit and his desire to be neighborly by pointing speakers down and away from the neighborhood, monitoring decibel loudness, and asking musicians to comply in general and stop playing by 11:00 pm. No meeting attendee was bothered by the music, so the issue was tabled.
- Minutes from April meeting were approved.
- Hustler Hollywood has been granted a remodel permit by the COA to open at 3600 Congress. COA property code states that an adult oriented business should not be located by a church or existing adult oriented business, but 3600 Congress has both characteristics. Additionally, Dawson neighborhood overlay prohibits adult oriented businesses, an Orange Line stop will be near this location, and the retention pond behind the building needs to remain free of trash and unlawful human activities. Hustler Hollywood found a “loophole” by claiming to sell a specific percentage of
retail (lingerie), but their own marketing and customer reviews clearly indicate that the main purpose of the store is to sell sexual oriented novelty items. Julie and Rebecca (Becky) agreed to draft a letter, and distribute to neighbors and city representatives. - COA rules for Short Term Rentals (STR’s) are not being enforced – May/June Newsletter. We have at least 12 in Dawson, but only 3 have permits.
- Meeting adjourned.
Minutes of Dawson Neighborhood Plan Contact Team, June 13, 2022
We met at Plaza Columbian Coffee to address the location site and hear from Owner as to the music permit. The owner went over what he had done to alleviate sound problems, and their concern to be good neighbors as they also live next door to site. The stage was turned to face north down S. Congress and the speakers pointed down. He has bought a Db meter to test noise level. At this time the music permit was still with the city to approve.
Eliot also had a DB meter with him to test. There was no live music at the time, but road noise was very loud; at or close to the 70db music noise level allowed and over that at times. Several of neighbors on Wadford came and they did not seem to have complaints about the noise levels. We as a group decided to the leave the action open for the time being. Also we wanted the permit approval moved forward before deciding on any action.
Hustler’s Hollywood
There has been a lot of talk about this business as we found out what was going into 3600 S. Congress, and the business’s history. Talk was spent on Adult Businesses being in the neighborhood, next to Verbo Church and across from the Red Rose. Adult Businesses were written in to our Neighborhood Plan as a non-preferred business. City Code for property is listed as a NP-CO. We have heard that Hustler claims the novelties and adult part of the business are minimal to sales percentage, and thus possibly allowed.
We are not against the business itself but to its location and what it might bring to the neighborhood. We had a long history with prostitution on S. Congress until recently. Becky and Julie agreed to write a letter to the City and notify other entities like local businesses that might be affected like St. Edwards and the Pickle Road Cosmic Coffee and Crux climbing business. Crux invites schools and groups to their location. And also notify nearby NAs and organizations.
We agreed to have the August by Zoom as it was going to probably be hotter than the June meeting and it has been hard to control the noise levels at both of the last locations.
These two subjects took up most of the meeting time.
DNPCT minutes
- Approved June minutes
- Marty followed up with DNPCT notes about the Gillis Pool work has been fixed, but no time set to open this summer.
- And mention was made of the City Council plan to change code on the distance restrictions and height allowances on corridors to allow for more density projects
